Pidhirtsi is a village of about 1000 inhabitants in the Lviv Oblast

Lviv Oblast

Lviv Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Lviv.-History:The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on December 4, 1939...

 of Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, located about 80 km east of Lviv

Lviv

Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...

, 17 km south of Brody

Brody

Brody is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Brody Raion , and is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately 90 kilometres northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv...

, 60 km north west of Ternopil

Ternopil

Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...

, at around 49°56′39"N 24°58′49"E. Known both for its castle

Pidhirtsi Castle

Pidhirtsi Castle is a residential castle-fortress located in the village of Pidhirtsi in Lviv Oblast western Ukraine, located eighty kilometers east of Lviv. It was constructed by Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan between 1635–1640 by order of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's Grand Crown...

 and Basilian monastery of the Annunciation with the miracle working icon of the Mother of God.

First written mention of a fortified Ruthenian settlement, then called Plisnensk, comes from 1188 and 1233, found in chronicles from Kiev and Halych-Volhynia as well as in the Tale of Igor's Campaign. The first Basilian monastery is recorded to have been founded by a princess named Helen in 1180. In the 15th century it is referred to by the present day name and in 1440 granted by king Ladislaus III of Poland to its tenant, the Podhorecki noble family. In 1635 the village was purchased by the Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski, who built a fortified residence there

Pidhirtsi Castle

Pidhirtsi Castle is a residential castle-fortress located in the village of Pidhirtsi in Lviv Oblast western Ukraine, located eighty kilometers east of Lviv. It was constructed by Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan between 1635–1640 by order of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's Grand Crown...

.

In 1682 it was inherited by the Sobieski family. During the first half of the 18th century the present complex of the Basilian monastery was constructed and in 1754 the icon was crowned by the Holy Father

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

 Benedict XIV. In 1728 the castle was purchased by the Rzewuski family and expanded by Wacław Rzewuski who also built the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph, consecrated in 1766. Finally from 1869 until 1939 the complex became the property of the Sanguszko family, who turned it into a museum. Pidhirtsi suffered heavily from the war and soviet rule and its collection has been scattered among different museums in Poland and Ukraine. In 1997 the devastated castle was given to the Lviv Art Gallery and is gradually undergoing restoration. In the Catholic St. Josephs Church are held worships in Polish and Ukrainian language.

In 2009, the village's Basilian

Order of Saint Basil the Great

The Order of St. Basil the Great also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat is an monastic religious order of the Greek Catholic Churches that is present in many countries and that has its Mother House in Rome. The order received approbation on August 20, 1631...

 monastery became the site of a schism

Schism (religion)

A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...

 within the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...

 when seven "Pidhirtsi fathers" declared the founding of the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church

Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church

The Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Christian movement established in 2009 and based at Pidhirtsi in Ukraine. Its seven founding bishops were formerly priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and members of the Order of Saint Basil the Great.-Movement within the...

.

External links

• http://univ.gda.pl/~literat/grafika/zamk1.htmPodhorce Castle, painted by Jan Matejko
  Jan Matejko
  Jan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...
  
  ]
• http://jasc51.io.ua/album244297
• http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=b34ef3b4c3bca2bc774b9dbbf9479b12, 3D Model Castle of Pidhiristi made with Google SketchUp